Caroline Dines

Since this past weekend was Easter, I traveled home to Maine to visit with my extended family. The weather report was calling for an absolute GLORIOUS weekend so I was psyched to escape the city and head to the mountains of Maine where I knew I could fully relax! I only wish Darin had been able to join me (he was on call this weekend so it wouldn’t have been enjoyable or relaxing for him!). I took some cues from my cat “Smudge” and spent almost all weekend outside!

After running the 5 mile loop by my house, my parents and I took off for a shortish (maybe 10 miles?) bike ride. Along the way, we picked up lunch from the local health food store which is appropriately named “The Good Food Store“.

We called in our order ahead so that it would be ready when we rolled in. I am one who likes to have a menu in front of me but I decided to live dangerously and just order whatever. I knew I didn’t want anything too heavy and had already decided to split it with my Mom. We both thought that a hummus and veggie wrap sounded good. I have to say that it far exceeded both of our expectations in the taste department! Their hummus is homemade (I still have never done this!) and they stuff the whole thing with the freshest and most tasty veggies they can find. With a side of Stacy’s Naked Pita Chips, a half a pickle and a view of the river, this turned out to be a fantastic lunch!

Our picnic spot was carefully chosen so that we could visit my Grandfather’s grave. We all remarked at how perfect a spot this was to come and picnic since it was quiet and peaceful by the river.

Since I was burning some “extra” calories for the day I figured I could handle a little treat for dessert. I have a serious addiction to these things they call Peeps. I am proud to say though I have come a long way from my college days of eating an entire box and then feeling sick the rest of the night. I think over the course of the weekend I might have had 4 total! Not bad for a peep junkie!

The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the sun with my Biology text book. I may have snoozed more than I read, but it’s hard not to when your reading a text book and sleeping in the sun happens to be one of my favorite things to do. And since it was SO beautiful, we decided to take a walk that afternoon before returning home for a beer and popcorn. This popcorn was blog-worthy because it had Nutritional Yeast sprinkled on top. My parents have been doing this for a few months now and I just realized this weekend how much I like it! Honestly, it kind of reminds me of Smart Food popcorn but since the health benefits far outweigh any artificial cheese, I’ll be sticking with Nutritional Yeast!

Nutritional Yeast contains 18 amino acids (which makes it a complete protein), is rich in B-Complex vitamins, contains 15 different minerals, and is naturally low in fat and sodium!

I honestly can’t wait to pick up some for myself. The perfect accompaniment to a big bowl of popcorn? A tall, frosty, beer. This happened to be a Michelob Genuine Draft which isn’t as bad as you’d think since it only contains 64 calories. Adding a lime wedge is a nice touch, as is the Boston Bruins pint glass!

After such an awesome day at home on Saturday, it was hard to pack up and leave. However, I wasn’t returning to Boston just yet. First, a stop over in Hallowell with my Mom’s family to celebrate Easter. And boy was it quite the celebration! Per usual, I documented all my favorites. To start things off, my Uncle Bob brought some of his famous Smoked Lake Trout which he served with dilled sour cream, capers and water crackers. This combination was outstanding and I agreed with my Dad who said “I could just eat this all day and be happy.”

For the main meal we had a Maple Orange Glazed Pork Tenderloin, Asparagus, Scalloped potatos, pineapple, salad and sweet rolls. I tried everything and went back for more pork, roll, and salad.

We brought the salad which was adapated from this month’s Cooking Light recipe. Instead of using pistachios we used crushed, roasted almonds. I was quite proud of the way it turned out! It looks so fancy but was really quite simple to do!

I tried to save room for dessert but the meal itself was just so good. Thankfully, I found the power to soldier on and sample the luscious desserts that showed up. Of course I had a piece of my Grandmother’s Famous Cake with lemon icing. It doesn’t get any better in my opinion.

And I just HAD to try my Aunt Jane’s Homemade Oreos!

These were FAN-TAS-TIC! Seriously, the talk while we all sampled was about how she could totally sell these! We were all trying to come up with creative names and ideas for marketing. I think there’s a business opportunity here for sure! How much do we all love Oreos? Now, think about being able to purchase a homemade one made with premium ingredients. I only ate one but I could have easily eaten more. I also was proud of myself for driving three hours back to Boston without breaking into the cookie I wrapped up for Darin!

When I began this blog back in August, I wanted to blog every day and talk about everything I ate. I was successful for a few months but quickly realized that this format was starting to bore me and therefore it was likely boring my readers. Recently I have realized that blogging was becoming more of a chore than a joy and I have taken a step back to think about what I want from this blog and what I am willing to put into it. While I took a break, telling myself that I didn’t have to take pictures or make interesting looking meals, I found myself wanting to take pictures of certain meals and blogging in my head.  I still find it fun to photograph food and want to share my “note-worthy” eats with the Food Blogging community. I started to think about my posts and how I could keep blogging fun.

My decision to change my posting schedule was also influenced by a recent acceptance into Graduate School! I am very excited to say that I am going to be starting a Masters in Applied Nutrition program at Northeastern University this coming Monday. I hadn’t mentioned anything on here before for fear that I wouldn’t get in, but while I was home on vacation I received a very important letter stating that I had been accepted! I will be taking 2 classes to begin with, Eating Disorders in Children and Adults and Medical Nutrition Therapy, while continuing to work at my current job. This program will prepare me to work in the field of nutrition at the community level (it does not prepare me to become an R.D.) which is exactly what I picture myself doing. I will be specializing in Eating Disorders and Obesity which excites me beyond belief. It has been a dream of mine to enter this program and finally it is happening!

I am anticipating a lot less free time and until I get the hang of being a student again, blogging could take a back seat completely. My goal is to keep the blog going with “highlight posts” instead of daily updates. So without further ado I bring you my favorite dishes and creations from the past couple of days.

A simple spinach salad with pan grilled chicken, peppers, hardboiled eggs, carrots, tomato, cashews, dried cranberries and pickles. I topped it all off with Trader Joe’s Balsamic Vinegar; tart and tangy!

Spicy black bean soup (TJ’s) and Ak-Mak crackers with Organic Hummus. I sometimes forget how much I love canned soup. This can has been sitting on my pantry cart forever and was time to be used!

Dipping these cracker planks with creamy hummus into the spicy soup was the best part.

Speaking of spicy, I happened upon a jar of “The Heat Is On” Peanut Butter & Co peanut butter at Christmas Tree Shops the other day and just had to have it. First of all I remembered seeing it on Broccoli Hut’s blog multiple times and secondly it was only $2.99! I paired it up with some BBQ sauce that has been lurking in the fridge for ages and was pleasantly surprised at how the sweet and spicy flavors came together.

I used my brand new Cuisinart Food Prep (mini size) to create my version of Peanut Butter BBQ Tofu. I had tried this before but was eager to use the correct flavor of peanut butter. I used the following ingredients:

Sweet and Spicy Peanut Butter Sauce

• generous scoop of “The Heat Is On” Peanut Butter
• 3 tablespoons of BBQ sauce
• 2 tablespoons of organic ketchup
• 3 tablespoons of water
• 1 tablespoon of Ginger People ginger juice

All of these measurements are approximate. You basically can’t go wrong just make the sauce as sweet, spicy, thick or thin as you like!

I marinated the sliced and pressed tofu for a few hours before baking it at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. Alongside the tofu in a separate dish I roasted a medley of vegetables which included baby sweet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. I used the remaining sauce over the vegetables and tofu. FABULOUS!!!

One of my New Years resolutions was to stop eating after dinner which is particularly hard when you work until 10:00 p.m. and are surrounded by unhealthy yet tempting food. I am proud to say that since Sunday when I came back to work I have not eaten ANYTHING unhealthy out of the house kitchen and have been sticking to my rule of not eating after dinner. I think the key to this has been the addition of a nightly cup (or three) of Decaffeinated Good Earth Tea.  The flavor of this tea is rich with cinnamon and keeps my mouth and brain happy while I am busy at work.

I will admit that I also have been having a square of dark chocolate each night with my cup of tea instead of eating all the baked treats from the house kitchen. It’s funny how a simple change like this can make you feel so in control and back on track without giving up sugary treats completely. I still reserve the right to eat the occasional piece of cake or brownie if it is totally appealing but the mindless munching has to stop!

Breakfast has been a variation of the same thing each morning. I have been loving my TJ’s Complete oatmeal packets which I have been making with water (no milk in the house still!). This mix was absolutely delicious and contained the following: Blue Diamond Almond Butter, a mix of dried cranberries and raisins, coconut, and small drizzle of cranberry apple butter. Mmmmm……I wake up craving this now.

I was back at the Haley House yesterday which felt great. They had some “day old” wraps that were not for sale any longer but still perfectly good. I snagged a half of the roast chicken whole wheat wrap. It was simply chicken, lettuce, tomato and a little bit of mayo but boy was it heavenly.

While at the Haley House today I was speaking with a member of the live-in community there who was drinking an interesting looking tea. He told me that it was “Kombucha” which I had heard of before but had never tried and knew little about. He actually makes it himself and told me the entire process which sounds a little unappetizing since it involves fungus and letting the fungus “ferment” the tea for a week. He said that you can make it with green or black tea and add any kind of fruit juice to make it differently flavored. He offered me a taste, and since I never want to turn any new food down before trying it, I gave it a sip. The result: I loved it! It tasted a lot like hard apple cider to me, a little fizzy with a strong yeasty smell. He gave me a small bottle to bring home and I had another glass before heading into work. Apparently Kombucha is pro-biotic and has a positive effect on the digestive system. Have any of you made your own or tried a bottled brand of this tea?

I know I have been neglecting my blog for the past three days but I have some good excuses. First of all, I think it’s sometimes important to just forget about photographing your food and completely focus on life. Secondly, some of the food I have been eating hasn’t been all that exciting and hasn’t inspired me to photograph it. And weekend of eating out at restaurants with poor lighting (The Publick House and Zaftigs) means that I have no pictures to show you! Here is an assortment of the things I have been munching on for the past three days and some random thoughts that come to mind.

Mom’s Famous Christmas Cookies

Receiving a package full of soft, frosted Christmas cookies on a Friday afternoon can totally re-energize you after an all out shopping spree.

Clementine and Cottage Cheese Combo

This is particularly delightful when eaten in the glow of the morning sun. Even better when it is used as fuel for the sweatiest, most intense yoga session in weeks!

Scrambled Eggs with Apricot Stilton

When you are completely out of food and need a satisfying pick me up on the weekend, turn to eggs, cheese and a whole wheat wrap. I am telling you, you will not be disappointed. If your feeling particularly daring go ahead and smear a little butter and jam on the wrap just before adding the cheesy eggs. Oh yea.

Eggnog Latte minus the $5.00 price tag

Surprisingly Rice Nog doesn’t seem to curdle when added to hot coffee. Good to know.

On the Road Grilled Salmon Sushi

Attempting to go grocery shopping on an empty stomach after a 7 mile run will leave you $75.00 poorer, disoriented, and scarfing down an entire tray of sushi in the parking lot.

Israeli Cous Cous Salad

Left over salad works especially well on nights when you have no desire to cook. It’s also easier to take pretty pictures when your not in a dimly lit restaurant.

Honey Mustard and Wisconsin Cheddar Grilled Cheese

A quick, simple, and comforting meal or snack. Also a great thing to hand your boyfriend when he returns home soaking wet from parking the car.

This morning started out the best way possible: cottage cheese, citrus fruit and a good book (Precious, saw the movie, now want to read the book!) I tried a new brand of cottage cheese today which I can’t say that I loved. I think this is the first time that I actually preferred the non-organic brand (Hood) to the organic brand (Organic Valley). It’s edible but it just has a slightly weird taste.

Before my run I wanted to give myself an extra boost of energy so I thought it would be a good day to try this Trader Joe’s Super Green Drink. I mixed it with the Whole Grain drink (which I am actually not crazy about) and hoped for good results. Unfortunately it was inedible. I am not sure if the Whole Grain Drink had gone “off” or what. I made up another batch using just water and was able to stomach it but just barely. I was terribly sad since I LOVE amazing grass shakes (straight up with water even!) and had high hopes for this. Oh well, back to Trader Joe’s it goes. Did you guys know about their return policy? Apparently if you try something and don’t like it you can bring it back opened and without a receipt for a full refund. I am going to try it tomorrow. This thing was 20.00 bucks so I feel it’s worth the effort. This is probably the first and last time I will ever need/want to return something to Trader Joe’s. Normally they are right on the money!

Even though we had some misses with my earlier eats, I felt properly fueled for a 5 mile run along the Charles. I geared up from head to toe and was pleasantly surprised with how sunny it was outside. The wind was the hard part but I made it just fine and felt totally refreshed when I got back. I love nothing more than a good run! Oh well actually I take that back, a good wrap is hard to compete with and this one was certainly a contender. The same as the other day just with more spinach and less turkey. Crunch, crunch, crunch (that’s the sound lots of spinach and pickle slices make)

My afternoon turned into a lovely “date” with my cousin Meg. I got all cleaned up and even put on my new scarf made just for me by my Nana. She reads the blog so I wanted to show her how good it looks against my black coat! I love the ruffles too, I guess it’s called a “Potato Chip” scarf, fitting for a food blogger, let’s just make sure it’s a potato chip of the baked variety! Thanks for the beautiful scarf Nana!

Meg and I had plans to see a movie downtown but before we hopped on the T we had to make a very important pit stop at Berryline. Meg had been browsing on line the other night and found that the Fenway location was now serving Nutella and Maple Raspberry flavored Fro Yo. She texted me immediately to let me know and from there our day was planned. After sampling both flavors, and tweeting to get your opinions, I went with both! The Nutella was amazing but the Maple Raspberry was equally stunning in quality. I got a few pieces of waffle cone as a topping. I hope you all appreciate the lighting on this picture, I literally almost lost the whole cup when a huge gust of wind hit. I was quite the scene trying to photograph and eat ice cream on a 30 degree December day!

Once we were safely back in the car I got one more shot. I recommend you run, not walk to this Berryline if you are anywhere within a 5 mile drive. The flavors will not last, they rotate them out quite frequently and this one is totally worth it! 

 After my fun afternoon “out” it was time for work. At least things here are quiet and it’s my Friday so I can’t complain. I enjoyed a few slices of cheese pizza and some left over broccoli and carrots from last night which were even better the second time around.

And even though I already had a dessert treat earlier today, I had to try the chocolate cake that was baked from scratch here tonight. It was literally just delivered to me as I sit so how could you say no. It had a buttercream frosting too, my favorite. Can you say “holy yum”!? Enjoy your Thursday night!

P.S. How creepy do I look in the mirror? I have a couple places in the office that have o.k. lighting for pictures and sometimes that means that I end up in the background!

As a person who will go out of her way for a free sample at the mall or walk through Trader Joe’s just to partake in their daily offering, you could say that I get a rush out of freebies. Since I took this position in May, I have been fortunate enough to take part in many fabulous donated breakfasts, lunches and dinners. As you may know every Tuesday we have Bruegger’s Bagels here at the house as part of our Community Breakfast. Even though I don’t work in the morning, I am always out and about in the morning and manage to snag a bagel most Tuesdays. Today was a particularly special Tuesday though. You see, once a month (on a Tuesday) we get Thai Food donated from Brown Sugar Cafe, which means that we get to eat Bagels and Thai food in the same day! Before I get to the Thai, let’s check out the uber crunchy, “scooped”, poppyseed bagel with light herb and garlic cream cheese that I ate this morning.

 This bagel fueled me perfectly through one of the hardest yoga sessions I have been to in awhile! We have a new instructor at Baptiste studio and he really pushes us all to our breaking point. I like a challenge but am glad that I am only able to take his class once a week! Boy my arms are already so sore! I came home, showered, and got into comfy clothes to enjoy this delicious lunch creation. I have been craving wraps lately and this one hit the spot! I used a whole wheat wrap (softened in the micro), sliced turkey, sweet vidalia onion dressing (Ken’s Healthy Choice), Claussen sandwich stackers and straight up spinach. HEAVEN! The pickles and the salad dressing (I usually stay away but I had it at my Grandmother’s a few weeks ago and wanted some more!) really made the combo for me.

 On the side I enjoyed the juiciest clementine and a can of Zazz seltzer.

 Around 4:00 I had rumblings of hunger starting up but didn’t want a real snack since I knew tonight’s dinner was going to be a big one. Instead I poured myself some Rice Nog! Has anyone else tried this amazing beverage? I spotted it yesterday and had to try it since I love egg nog but had the nutritionals. Last year my Mom went crazy for the soy nog but since I try to stay away from “processed soy” I didn’t partake. Light egg nog is good but it does have cholesterol and more fat than this Rice variety.

 This stuff is great! It tastes less rich than real nog (which I liked) but satisfied my mouth with a smooth, velvety texture. I had 4 ounces which is a serving (80 calories and 1 gram of fat). I went back for another 4 ounces, this could be dangerous!

Thai Tuesday proved to be another hit. We received the following dishes tonight:

• Basil Pork: Sauteed pork with onions, mushrooms, scallions peppers and basil leaves in garlic chili sauce.

• Pineapple Fried Rice: A quick stir-fried rice with egg, large shrimp, chicken, pineapple chunks, baby corn, snow peas, onions, tomatoes, green peas, raisins, carrots, and curry powder.

• Vegetable Pad Thai with tofu.

Of course I had to try all of them! The vegetable pad thai was still my favorite but the pineapple fried rice was a very close second since it included golden raisins and curry powder (two of my favorites!). Boy am I full now, thank goodness we only get Thai once a month!

But not a bite for me! I am saving myself for tomorrow My morning started out a little on the rushed side, the alarm never went off (long story) so we literally jumped out of bed and scrambled to get ready. Normally I have no where to be but today I was back at the Haley House and wanted to be on time so I decided on a quick and easy breakfast. I heated up one of my Cinnamon Apple Muffins and had a banana on the side. Perfect portion, satisfying and uber delicious!

Work at the Bakery was awesome today. We were busy with customers coming into pick up the pies that they had pre-ordered. At $18.00 a pop these were a big money maker and I was glad to see people so excited to be picking them up. Apparently they are fabulous pies. Here’s a peak at the Pumpkin. I considered buying one of these since I am bringing a Pumpkin pie to our Thanksgiving, but I really wanted to try and bake one myself.

And the Pecan Pie which was being sold by the slice. The pecan is actually made with Agave Nectar instead of Corn Syrup! This chef is just so on top of her game.

Instead of eating the pie, I sampled a bit of the Latin Bean soup. This soup was almost completely smooth which at first turned me off since I prefer chunks. Then once I tasted it I completely changed my tune and realized this was heaven! I discovered later on while serving it up that the secret was a huge chunk of lemon that was sitting at the bottom of the pot. That lemon flavor was hard to recognize at first but once I knew it was in there I could easily taste it. Delicious flavor, I must find the recipe somehow.

I then munched on an apple…

and later a half of a Curried Chicken whole wheat wrap that was being tossed since it was from yesterday. Still good in my opinion. It had raisins in it. I love raisins in a curry chicken wrap.

Despite the drizzly weather, I opted to walk home. In my mind it was really far because I take the train normally and it just feels like a long way away. I was surprised to map it out when I got home and realize it was only 2 miles! It was a good walk and I am glad I did it since I haven’t been getting ALL that much exercise as of late. I met up with my parents at Trader Joe’s to do some last minute shopping. They were on their way to Rhode Island for Thanksgiving and since I am heading to Maine with Darin’s family, we wont be seeing each other for the holiday. It was nice to get to see them for a brief visit. My Dad even took the time to burn us 5 CDs with Christmas tunes on them for our car ride back to Boston (after Thanksgiving is over, of course!). I finally got back to the place around 3 p.m. and began baking. I made a Pumpkin Pie using some different ingredients. Not necessarily “healthy” but different because I couldn’t find the right ones. Here’s what I used:

• 1 can of pumpkin
• 2 eggs
• 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• TJ’s premade pie crust

I figured that I could omit the brown sugar since I was using sweetened condensed milk instead of evaporated milk. I tasted the “batter” before it went in the oven and it tasted perfectly sweet and pumpkin pie-ish to me so I am hoping that when we cut into it everything tastes alright! It did get a bubble in the crust while baking which damaged the top a bit but I think it should be o.k. It’s my first pie ever so I’ll go easy on myself if it’s not. At least I have a can of whipped cream, that makes everything better right?

Dinner tonight was simple and quick. Our fabulous house keeper here at work made Rice and Beans for lunch and was kind enough to put some away for Darin and me. I topped mine with a little bit of cheddar cheese and popped into the microwave until it was bubbly hot.

Now it’s time to wrap it up here at work, pack up and get a good night’s sleep before leaving early tomorrow morning for Maine! I hope you are all enjoying your Thanksgiving break so far and are celebrating with loved onese wherever you may be. I’ll be around sporadically this weekend but will be sure to document lots of Turkey, sides and of course some pie that I actually consume. Happy (early) Thanksgiving!